As the NBA regular season opens Tuesday night, there is a decidedly North of the 49th Parallel feeling to the season with more Canadian content than ever before.

They are: Steve Nash and Robert Sacre with the Los Angeles Lakers; Cory Joseph with the San Antonio Spurs; Anthony Bennett and Tristan Thompson with the Cleveland Cavaliers; Andrew Nicholson with the Orlando Magic; Joel Anthony with the Miami Heat; Kelly Olynyk with the Boston Celtics; and Samuel Dalembert with the Dallas Mavericks.

They mark the greatest representation of Canadians in the league at any time in history and three of them will undoubtedly attract more attention than the others, for disparate reasons.

Nash is the NBA’s oldest player now and at 39 years old, care and control of the two-time MVP’s minutes and games will be of paramount importance as the Lakers try to shake off the memories of a disastrous 2012-13 season.

There’s already a suggestion Nash will sit out a game Wednesday against Golden State, the first of many back-to-back contests he’s expected to miss.

“We’ll see where we are in the schedule, where we are in the standings,” Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said. “The idea is to cut down the numbers of games and keep the minutes consistent for him, but the number of games comes down.”

At the other end of the spectrum is Bennett, the first overall pick in last June’s draft, a multi-faceted forward just beginning his career. He’s seen as a centerpiece of a growing Cavaliers roster that includes his fellow Canadian Thompson and point guard Kyrie Irving.

And then there is Olynyk, a late-lottery draft pick of the Dallas Mavericks who was moved on to Boston in a trade. In their annual poll, 13 of 30 NBA general managers said the native of Kamloops was the biggest steal of the draft after being taken with the 13th selection.

“He plays so hard,” Boston coach Brad Stevens told reporters. “He’s got to pick his spots a little bit. The one thing is, he’s always trying. He’s always trying to do his job well. I’d rather that be the case than not.”

With the expected arrival a year from now of presumptive No. 1 draft pick Andrew Wiggins, the Canadian content in the NBA will continue to grow.

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